Wasn’t aware S4 was in the works. Some cliffhangers at the end of S2, but would have been fine with an end there. I really hope they have a story plan and aren’t banking on it being profitable vs having the story the tell
It isn’t just possible it is plainly what happened. Carmy was supposed to find the note right away but it was lost and then kept from him. It was his brother’s suicide note. He was supposed to find the money right away.
Early on there was a throw away line about why he would have all those little cans when the big ones were easier to use.
This is a show that I appreciate but I don’t necessarily like. The first season gave me anxiety every episode. The second season was better paced I think. Redlining the entire way is not enjoyable. There has to be some variety in pacing to make things work. That’s why I thought “Forks” was a great episode.
First episode of Season 3 was almost unwatchable. Seriously? Nearly an entire episode of food preparation montages?
We’re learning about Carmy’s background and the aftermath of the opening night. Note the chefs we see in the first episode of the third season; we see Olivia Coleman’s Terry (fictional chef-owner of Ever), Daniel Boulud (of Daniel) is very prominent and I’m told that René Redzepi (of Noma) is also shown.
I actually thought it was really good. A calm before the storm that shows us how Carmy got to this point in his life. A recap that goes deeper than most recaps. It still had a manic vibe to it, but nothing like the “Fuck you, cousin!”-insanity of other episodes.
Not so sure about this season
Episode 1 was food porn. Episode 2 and 3 were Carly and Richie shouting at each other and Sydney rolling her eyeballs . A couple of back story episodes, and I hope there is some sort of payoff to the whole Fak family ‘haunting’ conversations as it’s getting tedious.
Honestly it doesn’t feel like very much has happened this season and we are on episode 8.
I saw it mentioned they were producing season 3 and 4 at the same time so I’d guess this is a whole lot of set up for season 4.
If this were season 2 we would have given up by now, but kind of invested to see how it goes.
I’m not sure how many people are familiar with The French Laundry, I know I wasn’t, but the 3 acre farm, the greenhouse, the livestock, that’s all real. I’m guessing they shot those scenes on location. Also, one of their chefs, Sally Schmitt, IMO, has enough of a resemblance to Olivia Coleman, that I wonder if it was on purpose.
Did anyone else notice all the wood on the shelf at The French Laundry? It looked like smallish tree stumps, but it had a driftwood look to it. The closest thing I’ve been able to find (without reading anything that’ll spoil episodes I haven’t seen yet) is that they have/had a wood-fired oven. But that doesn’t seem like the type of wood you’d want to use for that.
At the moment, this is the best picture I can find. You can see it on the shelf behind her.
Yeah, my brain is soft on the prior seasons, but this one is pissing me off. The prior seasons were all about developing to get to the point of opening this restaurant, and most of this season is flashbacks or shit unrelated to the restaurant. Episode 8 was decent overall, but it was soooooooo looooooong.
And all of the dysfunction…Richie and Carmy are both self-aware enough to know they are fucked up. They’ve been called out on it more than once and actually changed. Richie’s growth last season was absolutely transformational, as was Carmen’s. But here they are again this season, being fuckwits who can’t seem to tell their ass from a hole in the ground, and who think the only way to talk to someone is either to F-bomb them to death or just passive-aggressive them. It’s like the writers couldn’t figure out how to keep the show interesting without everyone forgetting everything they learned recently. If I were Sydney:
I would absolutely take the job/partnership at the other place, I’d bring Tina along and anyone else who is doing their level best there to thrive while being sabotaged by the asshattery of the morons running the place.
I didn’t care for this season at all except for the Tina episode which was outstanding.
I got to episode 3 of Season 3 and had to stop.
There’s not enough plot, and the content-free shouting matches don’t resemble arguments that real people have.
I completely get that there are people in the world who don’t understand what’s proper in a situation, like fucking around when a photographer’s going to be around in 15 minutes, but if I were Sydney or Tina, I would be like “How nice for so many of them to gather here so I can poison their food and take them all out at once…” because to regular people that shit is infuriating. My blood pressure goes up just watching it.
IMO it is worth continuing - some later eps are quite different.
My take on this series is it is ALL about character, with each ep to some degree focussing on a different one.
And, have you noticed, there are a LOT of lingering facial close-ups throughout. I assume that’s a deliberate thing to underline character - arguably excessively so.
I still have a few episodes left, but I noticed some interesting attention to detail they added. Donna was wearing an Italian Horn/Italian good luck charm. At least half the females on the Italian side of my family wear them as well. I’m not even sure how well known they are outside of the Italian community. Looking at some screen shots, she wore it in Season 2 as well.
I spotted it in the Ice Chips episode. Towards the end she’s in the hallway and you can just barely see her playing with it:
Consider watching Episode 6. It’s excellent
Just watched this one last night. The conversation between Mikey and Tina was my favorite scene of the entire series so far.
Agree
Same. All the flashbacks of dead Mikey make my skin crawl. I know too many people like him, loud mouth d-bags. Seeing him talk to Tina was like “Oh, this is the good guy they all mourn.”
I just finished up the last episode and still have a nagging question. Is Joel McHale’s character real or a figment of Carmy’s imagination. I noticed last season that Carmy is the only person that ever interacts with him. I don’t think any of the other characters ever worked with him (as was the case for many of his other chefs) and I’m not even sure Carmy mentioned him to anyone else.
Also, IIRC, in the opening scene of the pilot, it was sort of implied that the bear locked up in the cage and Joel McHale’s character (Chef Adam, apparently) were one in the same. Which would also suggest that Chef Adam isn’t real. But I’m going from memory on that one.
Having said that, up until now I just assumed I misread/misunderstood/missed something or that I was otherwise reading too deep into it. However, in the finale, I paid attention.
Chef Adam is at the big dinner for Chef Terry. No one other than Carmy ever talks to him. No one other than Carmy even looks at him, including the people sitting at his table. No one notices him still being an asshole to Carmy from across the room. When Carmy confronts him, no one is around.
The only thing I didn’t work out is who Sydney and Luca would be thinking Carmy was referring to when he said he was staring at “an asshole”.
TLDR, I don’t think Joel McHale’s character, Chef David, is real.
Luca and Sydney know who David fields is
Carry ….It’s the dude in the corner.
Just don’t… don’t look right now.
[Luca] David Fields.
[Sydney] Oh, shit. From Empire.
Yeah. He’s a dickhead.
[Carmy] Yeah.
Sounds like this season has all the worst bits of the previous seasons but little of the good.